Oblivion: Quick Review
So, I've been hooked into Oblivion for week.
Its easy finding good reviews of the game; hell, most everyone and their mother seems to be giving it ratings just shy of perfect. And yeah, it is really good. So, in that light, I'm going to talk about what I don't like about the game.
The specs, my God, the specs: Its a sign that I'm probably in the wrong hobby, mainly because I don't care to have to upgrade the computer on a yearly basis just to get the best games. Hell, my computer isn't even six months old yet and I've had to turn all the pretty graphics sliders to low so the game doesn't burp when I'm in the middle of combat.
Generic Fantasy World #9: An Empire full of quasi-medival cities and populated by quasi-medival people, complete with warrior Scandinavians and haughty Elves and Black people who come from a warmer pseudo-Arabian country. Yup, this hasn't been done before. Not at all.
One of the reasons I fell in love with Morrowind was the setting was anything but generic. Yeah the vast Ashlands and Ashstorms were depressing and the Dark Elves were moody and the cliff racers were bloody annoying (until I downloaded the mod that let me drive those little buggers into extinction), but it was neat. The religion was exotic, the landscapes were unique, the guar were adorable for lizards, and the Telvanni mushroom houses were wicked cool. That and it had a very fascinating undercurrent of the native Dark Elves trying to preserve their way of life against the imperialist Imperials (heh) and their colonial occupation. This was no cookie cutter setting.
In contrast, while the setting for Oblivion is pretty, it doesn't spark my imagination the way that Morrowind did.
I'm. On. Your. Frelling. Side: The combat system is all right, and the Sneak/Marksman attack is just as cool as I'd hoped it be, but frell, I hate fighting alongside my “allies”. This cartoon sums it up pretty well. I know I've been spoiled by all those Japanese RPGs I play, but I don't play these games for the added stress of trying not to kill my own peeps. I always avoided any of the companion quests in Morrowind, and I'm very sorry to say they are most defidently unavoidable in Oblivion. I dread some of the mass combat scenes that I know are upcoming in the storyline.
None of these quips is a deal breaker, though if any of them will become such it'll be the last one.
Its easy finding good reviews of the game; hell, most everyone and their mother seems to be giving it ratings just shy of perfect. And yeah, it is really good. So, in that light, I'm going to talk about what I don't like about the game.
The specs, my God, the specs: Its a sign that I'm probably in the wrong hobby, mainly because I don't care to have to upgrade the computer on a yearly basis just to get the best games. Hell, my computer isn't even six months old yet and I've had to turn all the pretty graphics sliders to low so the game doesn't burp when I'm in the middle of combat.
Generic Fantasy World #9: An Empire full of quasi-medival cities and populated by quasi-medival people, complete with warrior Scandinavians and haughty Elves and Black people who come from a warmer pseudo-Arabian country. Yup, this hasn't been done before. Not at all.
One of the reasons I fell in love with Morrowind was the setting was anything but generic. Yeah the vast Ashlands and Ashstorms were depressing and the Dark Elves were moody and the cliff racers were bloody annoying (until I downloaded the mod that let me drive those little buggers into extinction), but it was neat. The religion was exotic, the landscapes were unique, the guar were adorable for lizards, and the Telvanni mushroom houses were wicked cool. That and it had a very fascinating undercurrent of the native Dark Elves trying to preserve their way of life against the imperialist Imperials (heh) and their colonial occupation. This was no cookie cutter setting.
In contrast, while the setting for Oblivion is pretty, it doesn't spark my imagination the way that Morrowind did.
I'm. On. Your. Frelling. Side: The combat system is all right, and the Sneak/Marksman attack is just as cool as I'd hoped it be, but frell, I hate fighting alongside my “allies”. This cartoon sums it up pretty well. I know I've been spoiled by all those Japanese RPGs I play, but I don't play these games for the added stress of trying not to kill my own peeps. I always avoided any of the companion quests in Morrowind, and I'm very sorry to say they are most defidently unavoidable in Oblivion. I dread some of the mass combat scenes that I know are upcoming in the storyline.
None of these quips is a deal breaker, though if any of them will become such it'll be the last one.